A Course in the Basics

A trenching and drilling machine maker offers practical safety advice that has broad application

Two things are certain about safety advice. First, much of it comes down to common sense. Second, it can’t be repeated often enough.

The second statement is true because there are always new operators and helpers coming to the job site, and because even experienced operators can get a little too casual working with familiar equipment. And when we get casual, we can get careless. That’s just human nature.

Now, Ditch Witch has unveiled a new safety program that applies specifically to its trenching, boring and other machines, but that also can help users of just about any type of powered equipment. It’s called Ditch Witch Safe (www.ditchwitch.com/safe).

At its heart is a library of “Safety Matters” training and information sheets that address a wide range of topics, including working in trenches and pits, safely transporting equipment, rollover protection and electrical strike education. Supervisors, job foremen, company owners and others can use these sheets in classroom settings, in safety meetings and even on the job site.

Basics first

The program starts with some very basic guidelines for operating equipment safely: Read the operator’s manual, understand all the machine controls and functions, wear the seatbelt, keep bystanders away, wear personal protective equipment, call 811 before digging, know the standard color codes for utility marking, and so on.

Basic, yes, but still essential. Then it goes into depth on precautions for avoiding a series of common hazards. The 10 “Safety Matters” sheets (presumably the company will add more in the future) follow a consistent and convincing pattern: The potential hazards, the precautions, information and facts, and “Tales from the Trench” – actual stories of what can happen if people on the job site don’t take proper care.

For example, in the sheet titled “Trenching,” the hazards are listed as caught in, struck by, laceration, drawn into, buried hazards and falls into.

Precautions include always having underground utilities located, keeping others at least six feet away from the machine, clearing items such as landscaping fabric, cable and wire from the work area, and starting trenches away from obstructions like curbs, slabs, and fences that the digging teeth might catch.

The information section notes that trench sides can cave in up to a distance of three-fourths of the depth of the trench, and that trencher booms can kick up if the chain hits an underground obstruction like a tree branch or concrete footing.

Powerful stories

Of course, when it comes to safety, nothing teaches quite like true stories of what can happen. So the “Trenching” sheet’s “Tales from the Trench” lists five short case studies, including these two:

• An experienced construction supervisor was stepping across a 12-inch trench while the trencher was running. He was too close to the machine, his foot slipped, and he fell into the trench and digging chain. He died at the scene.

• An operator was trenching in a field that had a cross-country gas main buried underneath. The trencher struck the gas line, and it exploded. A huge hole was blown in the ground. The trencher was blown into the air and landed 100 feet away on its top. It is presumed that the operator died instantly.

The other “Safety Matters” sheets cover drilling attachments, electrical strikes using horizontal directional drills, rollover protection, crystalline silica dust, tracking hazards in directional drilling, trailer selection and maintenance, loading and hooking up trailers, working in trenches or pits, and equipment maintenance.

The Ditch Witch Safe Web site also includes videos on safety precautions when using all types of the company’s equipment.

Have a look?

If you operate trenching and drilling machines, you will find information here that could protect an employee from a serious injury. And no matter what kind of machinery you run, you’re likely to find something of value in this program.

As the heading of the Ditch Witch Web site says, heavy machinery requires your undivided attention at all times. A few safety reminders certainly can’t hurt, and may end up doing a great deal of good.



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